Guantanamo Bay: A History of How the U.S. Military Got There MORE New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Planning Trade Mission to Cuba The story of Guantanamo goes back more than a century, to the time of the Spanish-American War. And, during that time, it’s been, as it is now, a source of controversy. Until 1898, Cuba had belonged to Spain; as the Spanish empire diminished, Cubans fought for their independence. The U.S. joined in to help its neighbor and, though the Spanish-American War ended up focused mainly on the Spanish presence in the Philippines, Cuba was the site of the sinking of the USS Maine, the event that precipitated American military involvement. (Remember “Remember the Maine“? That’s this.) When the war ended, Spain gave the U.S. control of Cuba — among other territories, like Puerto Rico — and, about three years later, Cuba became an independent nation. MORE With Cuba, Nothing Can Be Simple However, that independence was not without a catch: as part of the Platt Amendment , the document that governed the end of the occupation, the new Cuban government was required to lease or sell certain territory to the United States.

Here’s how TIME later summarized (with numbers accurate for 1960) what happened next: The U.S. rights in Guantanamo are clear and indisputable. By a treaty signed in 1903 and reaffirmed in 1934, the U.S. recognized Cuba’s “ultimate sovereignty” over the 45-sq.-mi. enclave in Oriente province near the island’s southeast end. In return, Cuba yielded the U.S. “complete jurisdiction and control” through a perpetual lease that can be voided only by mutual agreement. For a low rental ($3,386.25 annually), the U.S. Navy gets its best natural harbor south of Charleston, S.C., plus 19,621 acres of land, enough for a complex of 1,400 buildings and two airfields, one of them capable of handling entire squadrons of the Navy’s hottest jets, e.g., 1,000-m.p.h. F8U Crusaders, 700-m.p.h. A4D Skyhawks. In terms of global strategy, Guantanamo has only marginal value.

It served as an antisubmarine center in World War II, and could be one again. But its greatest worth is as an isolated, warm-water training base for the fleet. With an anchorage capable of handling 50 warships at once, it is the Navy’s top base for shakedown cruises and refresher training for both sailors and airmen. What Cuba gets out of the deal is 3,700 jobs for the technicians and laborers who help maintain the base, a payroll of $7,000,000 annually for hard-pressed Oriente. When Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba the 1950s, there was briefly a period during which the fate of Guantanamo seemed in question. As TIME reported in the Sept. 12, 1960, issue , Castro threatened to kick the Navy out if the U.S. continued to interfere with the Cuban economy; however, he also said that he knew that, if he did so, the U.S. could take it as a pretext to attack and get rid of him. Castro would continue to bring up his displeasure at the U.S.

presence in Cuba — in 1964, he cut off the water supply, to which the Navy responded by building its own water and power plants — but the lease stayed, as did the military families based there. MORE When Fidel Castro Canceled Santa Claus Guantanamo returned to the news in the 1990s when it got a new set of residents. In 1991, in the wake of a coup d’état in Haiti, thousands of Haitians fled by sea for the United States. In December of that year, Guantanamo Bay became the site of a refugee camp built to house those who sought asylum while the Bush administration figured out what to do with them. Throughout the years that followed, the camp became home to thousands of native Cubans, too, who had also attempted to flee to the U.S. for political asylum.

In the summer of 1994 alone, TIME wrote the following May, “more than 20,000 Haitians and 30,000 Cubans were intercepted at sea and delivered to hastily erected camps in Guantanamo.” In 1999, during conflict in the Balkans (and after the Haitian and Cuban refugees had been sent home or on to the States), the U.S. agreed to put up 20,000 new refugees at Guantanamo, but that plan ended up scrapped for being too far from their European homelands. The decision to house al-Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo was reached shortly after 9/11 — and, nearly as immediately, the world began to wonder just what their status would be. A former Pentagon official told TIME’s Mark Thompson last month that some would like the Guantanamo Bay facility to be closed entirely, although that’s very unlikely to happen. If the long history of Guantanamo Bay proves anything, it’s that, though regimes and requirements may change, the U.S. Navy is likely to stay.

Radio GTMO Offers Music, News and a Bit of Home Radio GTMO Offers Music, News and a Bit of Home Story Number: NNS090831-14Release Date: 8/31/2009 4:19:00 PM By Army Spc. David W. McLean, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (NNS) -- Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Tolliver, an interior communications electrician with U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay's Defense Media Activity Broadcast Detachment, checks the signal strength and connections for the Armed Forces Network satellite feeds. Hidden between the dozen or so Spanish-speaking Cuban radio stations are three classic American radio station channels run by service members at the Defense Media Activity Broadcast Detachment, U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The channels sound different than stateside stations with a broader variety of music and a lack of commercial advertisements, replaced instead with creative, colorful, public service announcements.

But the crew at Radio GTMO does more than play music; they serve a vital role in their mission for the entire installation, which includes more than 2,000 personnel assigned here with Joint Task Force Guantanamo. "The Defense Media Activity Broadcast Detachment provides U.S. radio and television news, information and entertainment programming to military service members, Department of Defense civilians and contract employees and their families," said Navy Chief Petty Officer Jennifer Walker, chief petty officer-in-charge of the detachment. "We do our part to get information out to everyone, and it isn't just radio." The staff at Radio GTMO broadcasts radio signals on three channels and receives the satellite transmission for the Armed Forces Network television channels. "We have your daily news updates that come out of this building, combined with 'All Hands Radio News' stories that are played," said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jamel R. Jones, an interior communications electrician with the DMA. "We run all the AFN channels as they are routed through our station into Phoenix cable, and they distribute the signal." The DMA provides familiar sights and sounds to service members and families stationed overseas, and gives essential information to the Guantanamo Bay community for events or in times of emergency.

"We are one of the main sources of information during hurricane season," Jones said. "We are up live 24 hours a day during a hurricane. We pass on information that we receive to keep everyone safe and try to keep people occupied with some music." Music is one of the most noticeable attributes of the station, but the complex set of tasks requires different Navy ratings to handle the many jobs required to complete the mission. Mass communication specialists and interior communication electricians handle opposite aspects of the mission, but they work together and share the responsibilities inside the station. The MC specialists produce and manage the content of the broadcast, while the IC specialists keep the equipment and signal working. "In general, working on the radio is the biggest highlight of my job," said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Jesse R. Sharp, a mass communication specialist with the DMA. "Joining the Navy, I never thought I would get a chance to do anything like this. I knew I was going to be a journalist, but I handle most of the software troubleshooting for the programming we have here. I'm the guy who maintains the on-air capability." On-air programming features DMA staff blended with volunteer service members and civilians, who creates shows with a mix of musical tastes and themes.

"Cold Coffee," "Sundown RockOut," "Mid-Day Meltdown," "Ace's Hip Hop Show," "Friday Night Party Mix," "Saturday Morning Cartunage," "The Main Event," "The Cut," "Open Line" and others are broadcasted over the radio waves week after week and bring a healthy slice of American culture and information to a foreign country. Whether listening to the radio or watching television, the DMA Broadcast Detachment at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay works to keep everyone informed and entertained. For more news from Joint Task Force Guantanamo, visit Why the U.S. base at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay is probably doomed - The Washington Post Why the U.S. base at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay is probably doomed The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set! By Nick Miroff May 15, 2015 Follow @nickmiroff Towers overlooking a U.S. detention facility are silhouetted against a morning sunrise at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

(Michelle Shephard/Toronto Star via AP) HAVANA — If the United States and Cuba restore diplomatic ties in the coming weeks, as anticipated, the two countries will still be a long way from anything resembling a “normal” relationship, Cuban President Raul Castro has said repeatedly. His list of grievances is lengthy. But this week Castro said it boils down to two big issues. The first, of course, is the U.S. trade embargo. The other is the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, the oldest overseas American navy base in the world, which the United States has occupied for 116 years. That one isn’t up for debate, the Obama administration says . But, one can only wonder, for how long? Scholars and military experts say it’s difficult to see how United States can overhaul its relationship with Havana while hanging on to a big chunk of Cuban territory indefinitely, especially if relations warm significantly in a post-Castro era. While there are plenty of examples in the world of disputed borders or contested islands, the 45-square-mile American enclave at Guantanamo is something of a global geopolitical anomaly. There is no other place in the world where the U.S.

military forcefully occupies foreign land on an open-ended basis, against the wishes of its host nation. “It’s probably inevitable that we’ll have to give it back to Cuba, but it would take a lot of diplomatic heavy-lifting,” said retired Adm. James Stavridis, a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and now dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Stavridis was head of the U.S. military’s Southern Command between 2006 and 2009, putting him in charge of the Guantanamo base, which he said remains a “strategic, and highly useful” U.S asset. “It’s hard to think of another place with the combination of a deep water port, decent airstrip and a lot of land,” Stavridis said. The controversial American detention camp for global terrorism suspects is just one of the base’s conveniences. It is a logistical hub for the Navy’s Fourth Fleet, as well as counter-narcotics operations and disaster relief efforts. It also functions as a detention center for north-bound migrants intercepted at sea. The base’s location on Cuba’s south coast allows the U.S. military to project power across the entire Caribbean basin.

And it’s strategically located next to Haiti, a place that often needs U.S. help. As a military installation, though, Guantanamo -- Gitmo is its nickname -- is no longer essential in a modern era of aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and drones, Stavridis said. “You wouldn’t launch a large-scale military operation from there,” he explained, adding that many of the other uses Guantanamo provides could be fulfilled by existing U.S. military facilities in Puerto Rico or south Florida. “I don’t think it’s irreplaceable,” Stavridis said. U.S. warships sailed into Guantanamo Bay in 1898, and together with Cuban rebels, defeated the Spanish fleet. The Americans essentially never left, conditioning Cuban independence on constitutional provisions allowing the U.S. Navy to occupy the area “for the time required.” Rent was set at $2,000 a year, paid in gold. A new lease increased the amount to $4,000 in 1934, according to this history of the base by scholar Paul Kramer. But there was no cut-off date for the Americans to leave. The U.S.

government still dutifully sends rent checks to the Cuban government, but the Castros don’t cash them. They don’t recognize the lease, and – like landlords in a rent-controlled Brooklyn apartment -- want their tenants to leave. Fidel Castro is said to keep the checks piled up in his desk drawer, using them as a kind of political prop. It’s hard to imagine a more ready-made symbol of U.S. imperialism than a military base whose history is so wrapped up in late 19th-century attempts at American empire. After Castro's revolution, the United States had no intention of letting the base fall under communist control. At times of peak tensions during the Cold War, such as the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the base's fences became a front line for the Soviet-American standoff. Volleys of gunfire were occasionally exchanged between U.S. and Cuban troops. One such event was dramatized in the 1992 film "A Few Good Men,” in which an agitated Jack Nicholson memorably told Tom Cruise he wouldn’t be able to handle the pressures of living under constant threat at Guantanamo.

Castro shut off the water and electricity in 1964, and today the base is completely isolated from the rest of Cuba. Visitors say it resembles a small American city, with the island’s only McDonald’s franchise, as well as a Taco Bell, a Subway and other American chains. The divide from the rest of the island is lethally enforced by land mines, concertina wire and thickets of thorny cactus. In recent years, President Obama’s unsuccessful attempts to close the base’s prison camp have inspired several dream scenarios of a post-military future for the base. One would converted it to a research center and treatment facility for tropical diseases and epidemics. If returned to Cuban control, it could become a second campus of Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine, where students from around the world get free medical training from the Cuban government. Stavridis said a proposal along these lines to “ internationalize ” the base that retains its value as a logistical center for humanitarian relief would probably be an acceptable future within the Pentagon-- at least in the long run. Others optimists say the base’s transformation could serve as an exercise in trust-building between Cuba and the United States as hostilities ease. Such a move wouldn't be without precedent.

The U.S. reluctantly gave up the Panama Canal Zone, a place far more strategic to military operations and U.S. commercial interests than Guantanamo Bay. Panama converted the military installations into a “City of Knowledge,” a cluster of research labs and campus facilities in partnership with several U.S. universities. Here’s the timeline on how the United States came to occupy Guantanamo bay: 1898: U.S. warships sail to Guantanamo Bay, helping Cuban rebels defeat Spanish forces. 1903: U.S. granted territorial rights to Guantanamo Bay. Lease is extended in 1934; rent doubles to $4,000 a year. 1959: Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba, toppling U.S.-backed strongman Fulgencio Batista. He cuts off water and electricity to base in 1964. 1990s: Base serves as detention camp and processing center for tens of thousands of refugees from Haiti and Cuba 2002: Prison camp opens for global terrorism suspects. Nearly 800 detainees have been held at the facility, and roughly 100 remain today.

world Pentagon to send about a dozen Guantanamo inmates to other countries soon | Reuters Wed Mar 30, 2016 | 11:52 PM EDT Pentagon to send about a dozen Guantanamo inmates to other countries soon 1/4 Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Tariq Ba Odah is seen in a U.S. military image taken from a classified Department of Defense Guantanamo ''detainee assessment'' prepared in January 2008 and released by WikiLeaks in April 2011. Reuters/U.S. Department of Defense/WikiLeaks/Handout via Reuters + 2/4 In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. Military, leg shackles are seen on the floor at Camp 6 detention center, at the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 21, 2009. Reuters/Brennan Linsley/Pool + 3/4 The outside of the ''Camp Five'' detention facility is seen at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay December 10, 2008 in this pool image reviewed by the U.S. military.

Reuters/Mandel Ngan/Pool/Files + 4/4 Marines at Camp X-Ray at the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba escort a newly arriving detainee into a processing tent after being showered in this February 7, 2002 file photo. Reuters/Marc Serota/Files + By Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Pentagon plans to transfer about a dozen inmates of the Guantanamo military prison to at least two countries that have agreed to take them, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, the latest move in President Barack Obama's final push to close the facility. The first of the transfers are expected in the next few days and the others will take place in coming weeks, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Among them will be Tariq Ba Odah, a Yemeni man who has been on a long-term hunger strike and has lost about half of his body weight. There are now 91 prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most have been held without charge or trial for more than a decade, drawing international condemnation.

Obama, who last month presented Congress with a blueprint for closing the prison, is seeking to make good on his long-time pledge before he leaves office in January. But he faces stiff opposition from many Republican lawmakers, as well as some of his fellow Democrats. The Pentagon has notified Congress of its latest planned transfers from among the 37 detainees already cleared to be sent to their homelands or other countries, the official said. U.S. officials have said they expect to move out all members of that group by this summer. Obama’s plan for shuttering the facility calls for bringing the several dozen remaining prisoners to maximum-security prison in the United States. But U.S. law bars such transfers to the mainland, and Obama has not ruled out doing so by use of executive action. "I do not have a timeline on when particular detainees will be transferred from Guantanamo," Commander Gary Ross, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a statement.

"However, the administration is committed to reducing the detainee population and to closing the detention facility responsibly." The most prominent of those to be resettled over the next several weeks is Bah Odah, a 37-year-old Yemeni who has been force-fed by nasal tube since he stopped eating solid food in 2007. His weight had dropped to 74 pounds from 148 and his legal team feared he could die of starvation, according to an account in a Reuters report at the end of December. Lawyers for Ba Odah, who was cleared for transfer in 2009, had tried unsuccessfully to win his release on health and humanitarian grounds, but Pentagon officials said he was receiving proper care. The plan to resettle about a dozen inmates was first reported by the Washington Post. The U.S. official declined to name the countries ready to take them in. Ten Yemeni men were sent to Oman in January. Others were recently sent to Ghana, Bosnia and Montenegro. The Obama administration has ruled out sending Yemenis, who make up the bulk of the remaining prisoners, to their homeland because it is engulfed in civil war and has an active Al Qaeda branch.

Guantanamo prisoners were rounded up overseas when the United States became embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The facility, opened by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, came to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture. (This story has been refiled to insert dropped words in paragraph 9 attribution) (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Sandra Maler and Clarence Fernandez) ADVERTISEMENT History and Geography of Guantanamo Bay By Erin Mahaney, Geography Intern Located four hundred miles from the mainland United States, Guantanamo Bay in the Guantanamo Province of Cuba is the oldest overseas American naval base. It is also the only naval base in a communist country, and the only one that has no political affiliation with the United States. With 45 miles of naval infrastructure, Guantanamo Bay is often called the " Pearl Harbor of the Atlantic." Due to its remote location and jurisdiction, Guantanamo Bay has been deemed by one United States government official as the “legal equivalent of outer space”. History of Guantanamo Bay In 1898, the Spanish American War united Cuba and the United States.

Aided by the U.S., Cuba fought for independence from Spain. That same year, the U.S. captured Guantanamo Bay, and the Spanish surrendered. In December of 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed and Cuba was granted independence. At the wake of the 20th century, the U.S. formally leased this 45 square mile parcel from newly independent Cuba to use as a fueling station. continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World The lease was renewed in 1934 under Fulgencio Batista and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. The agreement required consent of both parties should either want to withdraw; that is, reconsider U.S. occupation of the base. Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba were severed in January of 1961. In hopes the U.S. will forfeit the base, Cuba no longer accepts the $5,000 annual American rent. In 2002, Cuba officially requested that Guantanamo Bay be returned. Interpretation of the 1934 mutual consent agreement differs, causing frequent squabbles between the two countries.

In 1964, Fidel Castro cut off the base’s water supply in response to the U.S. government fining Cubans for fishing near Florida. As a result, Guantanamo Bay is self sufficient, and produces its own water and electricity. The naval base itself is divided into two functioning areas on either side of the bay. The east side of the bay is the main base, and the airfield occupies the west side. Today, both sides of the base’s 17-mile fence line are patrolled by U.S. Marines and Cuban militiamen. During the 1990s, social upheaval in Haiti brought over 30,000 Haitian refugees to Guantanamo Bay. In 1994, the base provided humanitarian services to thousands of migrants during Operation Sea Signal. That year, civilian employees and their families were evacuated from the base to accommodate for the influx of migrants. The migrant population climbed upwards of 40,000. By 1996, the Haitian and Cuban refugees had filtered out, and family members of the military were allowed to return. Ever since, Guantanamo Bay sees a small, steady migrant population of about 40 people each year.

Geography and Land Use of Guantanamo Bay Lying on the southeast corner of Cuba, the climate of Guantanamo Bay is typical of a Caribbean country. Hot and humid year round, Provincial Guantanamo experiences a rainy season from May to October, and a dry season from November to April. The name “Guantanamo” means “land among rivers”. The entire southeast region of Cuba is known for its extensive rural mountainous zones and river basins. The lands surrounding the Guantanamo Bay naval base began generating American capital during the late 20th century. Just northwest of Guantanamo Bay, the economy of Guantanamo City thrives on the fruits of the sugar industry and extensive military employment opportunities. The bay itself is a 12-mile long north-south indentation, and is six miles across. Islands, peninsulas and coves can be found on the east side of the bay. The Guantanamo Valley lies west of the bay along the Sierra Maestra. The lowlands on the west side are adorned in mangroves. Its flat nature makes it ideal for Guantanamo’s airfield. Similar to many American towns, Guantanamo Bay is furnished with subdivisions, baseball fields and chain restaurants.

Roughly 10,000 people reside there, 4,000 of which are in the U.S. military. The remaining residents are family members of the military, local Cuban support staff, and laborers from neighboring countries. There is a hospital, dental clinic, and a meteorologic and oceanographic command station. In 2005, four 262-foot tall wind turbines were constructed on John Paul Jones Hill, the highest point on the base. During the windiest months, they provide the base with about a quarter of the power it consumes. Since the sharp population rise in 2002 of military and support personnel, Guantanamo Bay boasts a golf course and an outdoor theater. There is also a school, but with so few kids that sports teams play against groups of local firefighters and hospital workers. Separated from the base by cacti and elevated landforms, residential Guantanamo Bay bears much similarity to suburban America. Guantanamo Bay as Detention Center Following the September 2001 attacks on the U.S., several detention camps were built at Guantanamo Bay which held hundred of detainees.

As of 2010, facilities remaining in operation include Camp Delta, Camp Echo, and Camp Iguana and about 170 detainees remain. Many of the prisoners originate from Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia . There is longstanding debate over Guantanamo Bay’s role as a detention facility , particularly among lawyers and human rights activists. Its true nature and inner workings are somewhat elusive to the American public, and are under constant scrutiny. One can only speculate the future of Guantanamo Bay and as history suggests, its utility and habitation are ever changing. About About News About Located in the Oriente Province on the southeast corner of Cuba, the base is about 400 air miles from Miami, Fla. The installation is the oldest overseas U.S. Naval base and is the only base located in a country with which the U.S. does not maintain diplomatic relations. In February 1903, the United States leased 45 square miles of land and water at Guantanamo Bay for use as a coaling station. As technology advanced, it evolved into a refueling station. The treaty was finalized, ratified by both governments and signed in Havana in December 1903.

A 1934 treaty reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in gold coins per year, to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 U.S. Treasury dollars, and added a requirement that termination of the lease requires the consent of both the U.S. and Cuba governments, or the U.S. abandonment of the base property Share This Page Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - US Naval Base and Detention Camp | don Quijote Read the Spanish version Guantanamo is most well-known as being the location of the US naval base which currently houses alleged terrorists. Outside the detention camp – which only occupies a small area of the Guantanamo region – Guantanamo’s major industries include sugar and coffee. The area is located on the southeastern coast of the island, approximately 900 miles from the capital, Havana. US Naval Base opened in 1902, and the detention camp a century later Guantanamo has other areas of interest outside the base The Bay itself is surrounded by large mountain ranges, which isolate it from the rest of the country.

The name ‘Guantanamo’ is the original name for the area, first used by the indigenous Taino tribe, which inhabited the island before Spanish colonization. The naval base that exists today was established there in 1902, after the US invasion of Cuba in the 1898 Spanish-American War. The United States would be allowed continued use of the naval base in return for its withdrawal of troops from all other parts of the country. This agreement was called the Cuban-American Treaty, signed in 1903. In 1934 the Avery Porko Treaty was signed, granting Cuba access to the bay itself, as well as increasing the lease fee from $2,000 to $4,085 in today’s money. The Cuban Revolution in the 1950s changed the relatively little, with the US arguing that the base’s status was unaffected by a new regime – a stance opposed by the new leader, Fidel Castro. Since then, only one cheque has been cashed by the Cuban government as a mark of protest against the continued American presence.

Cuba, for its part, claims that the agreements signed in both 1903 and 1934 were forcibly imposed on the country, and in any case violate modern international law. The issue is still a thorn in the relationship between Cuba and the United States. The base covers an area of forty-five square miles on both the western and eastern sides of the bay. United States now posses jurisdiction and control of the naval base, although Cuba maintains ultimate sovereignty – a somewhat ambiguous clause. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp – which is located within the naval base – was established in 2002, with the intention of detaining alleged terrorists, who are considered extremely dangerous. The camp is a source of much controversy: the American government considers it to be an important tool in its fight against terrorism, arguing that if the inmates were released, they would execute attacks on western countries; meanwhile, human rights activists and some western governments have denounced the facility as an affront to western values, principally the holding of detainees without charge for many years, as well as allegations of torture by the camp’s guards. The future of the detention camp remains uncertain.

Upon his election as president, Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the center, but due to congressional stalemate and no agreeable location to imprison the remaining detainees, the camp remains operational as of 2013. The province of Guantanamo has much more than the detention center, including the city of Baracoa, which is Cuba’s oldest city, having been founded in 1511 as the island’s capital. Since the 1990s, tourism has overtaken cocoa and coffee to become the main source of income, due to the outstanding beauty that pervades the area. The city’s heritage as a cocoa manufacturer has given its nickname as the City of Chocolate, and much of its food delicacies are based on the popular sweet. Due to its exotic location, the area around Guantanamo maintains a constant average temperature of about thirty degrees all year round. Contact us Guantanamo Bay [GTMO] "GITMO" U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Guantanamo Bay [GTMO] "GITMO" U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay is the oldest U.S. base overseas and the only one in a Communist country.

Located on the southeast corner of Cuba, in the Oriente Province, the base is about 400 air miles from Miami, Florida. The terrain and climate of Guantanamo Bay make it a haven for iguanas and banana rats. In December 1903, the United States leased the 45 square miles of land and water for use as a coaling station. A treaty reaffirmed the lease in 1934 granting Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, payment of $2,000 in gold per year, equating to $4,085 today, and a requirement that both the U.S. and Cuba must mutually consent to terminate the lease. U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba were cut on January 3, 1961 by President Dwight Eisenhower; shortly prior to John F. Kennedy's inauguration on January 20, 1961. At that time, many Cubans sought refuge on the base. U.S. Marines and Cuban militiamen began patrolling opposite sides of the base's 17.4 mile fenceline. Today, U.S.

Marines and Cuba's "Frontier Brigade" still man fenceline posts 24 hours a day. In October 1962, family members of service people stationed here and many base employees were evacuated to the United States as President John F. Kennedy announced the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. This was the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis which resulted in a naval quarantine of the island until the Soviet Union removed the missiles. The evacuees were allowed to return to the base by Christmas 1962. Another crisis arose just 14 months later on Feb. 6, 1964, when Castro cut off water and supplies to the base in retaliation for several incidents in which Cuban fishermen were fined by the U.S. government for fishing in Florida waters. Since then, Guantanamo Bay has been self-sufficient and the Naval Base desalination plant produces 3.4 million gallons of water and more than 800,000 kilowatt hours of electricity daily. The base is divided into two distinct areas by the 2 1/2 mile-wide Guantanamo Bay. The airfield is located on the Leeward side and the main base is on the Windward side.

Ferry service provides transportation across the bay. The primary mission of Guantanamo Bay is to serve as a strategic logistics base for the Navy's Atlantic Fleet and to support counter drug operations in the Caribbean. In 1991, the naval base's mission expanded as some 34,000 Haitian refugees passed through Guantanamo Bay. The refugees fled Haiti after a violent coup brought on by political and social upheaval in their country. The naval base received the Navy Unit Commendation and Joint Meritorious Unit Award for its effort. In May 1994, Operation Sea Signal began and the naval base was tasked to support Joint Task Force 160, here providing humanitarian assistance to thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants. In late August and early September 1994, 2,200 family members and civilian employees were evacuated from the base as the migrant population climbed to more than 45,000 and the Pentagon began preparing to house up to 60,000 migrants on the base. The last Haitian migrants departed here Nov. 1, 1995. The last of the Cuban migrants left the base Jan. 31, 1996.

In October 1995, family members were authorized to return, marking an end to family separations. An immediate effort began to restore base facilities for family use, including a child development center, a youth center, two schools and Sunday school. Additionally, the revitalization of Boy and Girl Scout Camps and the Guantanamo Bay Youth Activities (a free sports program for children) was enacted. During the Haitian migrant operation "Operation Sea Signal" at Guantanamo Bay, a number of migrant camps were set-up at "Radio Range" the site of the Naval Base's radio antennas on the south side of the base, and the future site of the more permanent detainee facility. To identify the camps, a name was designated to each to correspond with the phonetic alphabet used for official military "radio" communication (Camp Alpha, Camp Bravo up to Camp Golf). When additional sites were established on the north side of the base, camp names were designated using the opposite end of the alphabet, to include Camp X-Ray. Camp X-Ray is the only camp site on the northern side of the base and is currently used as a temporary detention facility. Since Sea Signal, Guantanamo Bay has retained a migrant operations mission with an ongoing steady state migrant population of approximately 40.

The base has also conducted two contingency migrant operations: Operation Marathon in October 1996 and Present Haven in February 1997. Both of these short-fused events involved the interception of Chinese migrants being smuggled into the United States. After 52 years of service, Guantanamo's Fleet Training Group relocated to Mayport, Florida, in July 1995. One month later, the naval base lost another major tenant command when the base's Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity disestablished after 92 years of service. On 13 June 2003 Brown & Root Services, a division of Kellogg Brown & Root, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $12,495,601 modification to Task Order 0038 at under a cost-reimbursement, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity construction contract for various facilities, Radio Range, U.S. Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay. The work to be performed included new facilities for traffic control checkpoints (main and secondary checkpoints), troop bed-down facility, troop dining facility and destructive weather improvements to detention facility structures.

The project was to also include site work, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, plumbing and electrical work, as required for the various facilities. Work was to be performed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was expected to be completed by June 2004. Contract funds wouldnot expire at the end of the fiscal year. The basic contract was competitively procured with 44 proposals solicited, three offers received and award made on June 29, 2000. The total contract amount was not to exceed $300,000,000, which included the base period and four option years. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Division, Norfolk, Va., was the contracting activity (N62470-00-D-0005). The Naval Base includes, as separate commands, a Naval Hospital and Branch Dental Clinic, detachments of the Personnel Support Activity, Naval Atlantic Meteorologic and Oceanographic Command, Naval Media Center, Naval Communications Station, Department of Defense Dependent Schools and a Navy Brig.

Directly supporting the base as departments of Naval Station are Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Resident Officer in Charge of Construction, Human Resources Office, Family Support and Service Center, Red Cross, Security and Navy Exchange/Commissary. Guantanamo Bay, located on the southeast coast of the island of Cuba about 500 statute miles southeast of Miami, Florida, is approached via the Windward Passage from the north or the Caribbean Sea from the south . Guantanamo Bay is the largest bay on the extreme south coast of Cuba, and affords anchorage for deep-draft ships. The bay is a pouch-shaped indentation about 12 miles long in a northeast-southwest direction and about 6 miles across at its greatest width. Guantanamo Valley, a low, hilly district, extends westward from the bay along the Sierra Maestra. The deep bay is sheltered by the nearby Cuzco Hills (elevations to 495 ft) to the south and east and by mountains to the north. Entrance into the bay, between Leeward Point and Windward Point, is made through a 1 1/4 mile-wide channel with 42 ft least dredged depth up to a point westward of Fisherman Point.

From there to a point southwestward of Caravela Point, the least dredged depth is 32 ft. The bay complex is divided into an Outer Harbor and an Inner Harbor. The Outer Harbor stretches from the entrance to the Naval Reservation Boundary about 5 miles northeastward. The channel narrows to 250 yards here, at Palma Point, then widens into two separate bays whose total width is about 5 miles; the upper half, known as Ensenada de Joa, forms the Inner Harbor in which commercial ports are located. The naval base and the main anchorage area are contained within the Outer Harbor area. The naval complex is located on the east side of the harbor between Fisherman Point (1 3/4 miles north of Windward Point) and Granadillo Point, abut 2 3/4 miles northeastward. The area contains many coves and peninsulas and a few islands. Much of the land here is elevated well above water level. The western side of Guantanamo Bay, generally low and mangrove-covered, contains many mud flats. The more important coves, located between Corinaso Point and Deer Point, contain the pier and wharf facilities of the naval base.

The land is lower and flatter here for a few hundred yards inland. Two airfields are located within the naval complex: McCalla Airfield, on the east side of the harbor entrance, is inactive; Leeward Point Field on the west side is an active naval air station. Water depths vary from about 60 ft just inside the harbor entrance to approximately 30 ft in Granadillo Bay (on the east side of the Outer Harbor) and at the entrance to Eagle Channel. Many of the coves are only 25 ft deep. The mean tide range is 1.0 ft and the spring tide range is 1.3 ft. Periodic tidal variations as great as 4-5 ft have been observed, but these probably were meteorological versus astronomical phenomena. Harbor tidal currents in Guantanamo Bay are estimated to be about .25 kt on the flood to .50 kt on the ebb. Locally at the river mouth, stronger currents are observed periodically. Swells ranging 3-5 ft are common during the afternoons and nights, extending upbay from the harbor entrance to Fisherman Point.

During an extended period of fresh southerly winds from a recent winter storm on the Gulf of Mexico (Apr 83), waves up to 10-12 ft were observed in the outer harbor; these disrupted the lifeline ferry service from Leeward Point for two days. At Guantanamo Bay, the Outer Harbor is used by the US Navy and the Inner Harbor serves as a commercial (Cuban) port. This evaluation deals with the facilities of the Outer Harbor only, although the climatology section is appropriate for both harbors. The Outer Harbor includes that portion of Guantanamo Bay from the entrance north to Palma Point (approximately 19ï¿½ 58' 24"N). The major naval facilities are contained within Corinaso Cove from Corinaso Point to Radio Point. There are five piers available, varying in length from 180-900 ft with depths alongside from 20 to 35 ft. Three wharves provide accommodations up to 1065 ft with depths to 38 ft. Piers and wharves range from 6 to 10 ft in height above MSL.

It should be noted that dredge depths decrease along some piers (see Pier B) and also that dredge width may be minimal and maneuvering is consequently difficult. Berths and anchorages in Guantanamo Bay are assigned by the Port Services Officer. The naval anchorage areas for deep-draft vessels are in the Outer Harbor. Pilots are available and required for ships engaged in commercial trade, but are not compulsory for ships of the US Navy. Tugs (normally two available) and other harbor services may be arranged through Port Control. Emergency harbor services are available 24 hours a day. In early 2005, four white wind turbines began operating John Paul Jones Hill, the base's highest point, named after the Revolutionary War naval hero. The turbines, standing at 80 meters (262 feet) high, feature three-blade turbines. The four turbines were estimated to provide as much as a quarter of the base's power generation during the high-wind months of late summer and fall; an appreciable fact given that Guantanamo Bay is completely self-sustaining, generating its own power and water without having to rely on Cuban municipal sources.

In addition to generating power, the turbines have significantly cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases created through burning diesel fuel. Black clouds containing carbon dioxide can routinely be seen pouring from the diesel generators supplying power to the base's energy grid. Each turbine is anchored in a giant block of concrete, through which 22 soil anchors are drilled into the mountain to a depth of 30 to 40 feet deep. These are then sealed with grout. The automated turbines are rated to withstand winds of up to 140 miles per hour. NEWSLETTER

Question: Which country is home to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay?
Answer: Cuba